Thursday, August 21, 2008

What is a hybrid home? Simply put, it is a house made of different kinds of building styles or materials. In the case of a hybrid log home or timber frame home, it is usually a mix of regular 2 by 4 framing and log or timber accents. It may be a regular framed home with timber trusses and posts incorporated. Wood accent pieces can be built into the design of your new home or they can be added to an existing home that you would like to update.
Log and timber frame accent pieces can include structural and/or non-structural log trusses, posts, rafters, floor joists, log siding, stairs, purlins, structural decks, handrails, mantles...and the list goes on.Sitka Log Homes has provided the wood accents for various renovations of older tired looking homes that are transformed with amazing results after adding the log or timber accent pieces.

Existing buildings with log and timber accents added

Recently there has been a noticeable trend towards incorporating log or timber accents into the design of new homes. In this way people can enjoy the rustic feel of log and timber in their home without having a full log home. The contrast between regular frame walls and the wood pieces is usually dramatic. Often a home finished with log siding looks to most people like a full log home…until they go in and see the inside walls are drywall.

Log siding on outside of regular framed home with log accents
The home featured on the cover of Log Home Living (October 2008 issue) is a hybrid log home that Sitka Log Homes provided the log work for. It was designed by AllenGuerra Design Build of Colorado.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The romantic vision of a cozy log cabin in the woods is what inspired many people to dream of owning their own log home. Cozy log cabins as vacation homes are often found around lakes and at the base of ski resorts, but they are not so small anymore and aren’t always just vacation homes. Large elaborate log homes began to replace the simple plans.
More and more architects are designing really large complicated designs for log homes now. This has often been exciting for us. It has pushed us to expand and learn new techniques. Building some of these complicated designs has been challenging but invigorating. The end results are always something to be proud of and they show very well. This is why most of our projects on our web site are of large custom homes. They simply photograph well.
Those homes are great, but the small cozy log cabin has not been forgotten and is still very popular. Small designs often incorporate clever ways to get the most out of a small space.
This is the case with the 14 small cabins that we built in Whistler, BC for the Riverside RV Resort and Campground. A Kitchen, living room, bathroom, bedroom and even a loft for the kids to sleep in, all amazingly fit into only 400 sq.ft.This is one example of a very small cabin, but as custom builders we are able to accommodate any design that will work best for you.Click here to download the floor plan for the Whistler cabin.Email us if you are interested in pricing or if you would like us to offer you a quote on your own small log cabin design.